Desk of Contents
Desk of Contents
Atari 2600
NES controller
N64 controller
Sixaxis
Xbox Duke controller
GameCube controller
DualShock
Xbox 360 controller
DualSense Edge
Xbox Elite controller
It doesn’t matter in case you’re enjoying one of the best sport of all-time or one in every of the worst in case you’re holding a horrible controller. These are our gateway into the world of gaming, and counting on how they’re designed can utterly change how we notice at a console. The very best NES video games wouldn’t bear taken off if it weren’t for its controller, and we’ve solely been iterating on them since then. Graphics are valuable, however one of the best consoles of all-time wouldn’t bear succeeded with out a terrific controller. Let’s travel again by the ages and select one of the best controllers we’ve ever held.
Atari 2600
Giovanni Colantonio / Digital Traits
We bear at hand it to Atari for preserving it easy however practical early on. Lots of competing consoles round now tried to accumulate loopy with controllers, including issues like quantity pads and spinning dials. This joystick and button is about as restricted as you may accumulate for a controller however is good enough for the kind of video games that had been popping out on the time. It served as a terrific start line to construct off of.
NES controller
Nintendo
Nintendo principally set the customary for all consoles going ahead up till the 3D period with the NES controller. Its D-pad was a revolution that we nonetheless employ to at the present time, and the simplicity of the two-button format was pure with out getting too sophisticated. The shape issue is a bit small, and its edges are a dinky sharp, however is in any other case about as near excellent as you may accumulate for 2D video games.
N64 controller
Nintendo
What’s left to yell in regards to the three-pronged N64 controller? It labored properly sufficient holding the middle and lawful handles, however that D-pad and left bumper had been successfully ineffective based mostly on the design. The Z button was the primary set off button we’d seen, and that alone provides it main factors, however this isn’t a controller we’re fervent to choose up once more.
Sixaxis
Sony
The PS3 technology was simply the largest stumble Sony ever had, and the launch controller was solely fragment of its woes. Moderately than ship the DualShock 3 like everybody anticipated, PlayStation shook issues up by…eradicating rumble. The Sixaxis sacrificed any haptics in change for clunky and hardly-used movement controls, convex sticks, and mushy set off buttons that felt horrible for shooters.
Xbox Duke controller
Xbox
We bear no notion what Xbox was considering launching its first console with a controller as gigantic because the Duke. That measurement is the controller’s solely deadly flaw as a result of its twin thumbstick, triggers, and buttons are all implausible. The black and white buttons had been an odd alternative to try to differentiate itself, however it obtained sufficient lawful that it was capable of compete with Nintendo and Sony.
GameCube controller
Nintendo
That is what the N64 controller ought to bear appeared like from the beginning. The sticks obtain sense, there are ample buttons, and the triggers thick and satisfying to tug. It simply has just a few odd quirks, just like the C-stick being a nub and there solely being one bumper button, however it holds up properly sufficient that folks nonetheless employ them to at the present time.
DualShock
Sony
The unique DualShock may as properly be the blueprint for each fashionable controller. We bear two sticks, a D-pad, four face buttons, two triggers, and two bumpers. Apart from again buttons, there’s not a lot innovation available from right here that made any significant impression on gaming.
Xbox 360 controller
Xbox
The 360 edges out the DualShock purely based mostly on refinement. Some folks want the offset sticks, however there’s no denying that the curved triggers had been a transparent enchancment and the marginally rounded buttons felt powerful to press. The one flaw is that the D-pad is mushy and imprecise.
DualSense Edge
Sony
The most recent and greatest PS5 controller is the high-end DualSense Edge. It has all of the performance of the launch DualSense, equivalent to haptic suggestions, adaptive triggers, and movement controls, plus programable again paddles and simply swappable components. It appears and appears like a high-end product, however sadly has a battery life that leaves loads to be desired.
Xbox Elite controller
Microsoft
After the Duke, Microsoft has solely made higher and higher Xbox controllers, and the head of all of them is the Elite collection. Very like the Edge, you may tailor nearly each fragment of this controller to your liking, plus even design its coloration scheme nevertheless you wish by way of the design lab to obtain it utterly personalised. It’s comfy, has all of the buttons and paddles you wish, and is about as near excellent as a controller can accumulate inside the trendy design. It’s going to value you additional, however it is greater than definitely worth the value in case you’re a severe gamer.
